Being a fan of both The Beat Brothers and doomed playwright Joe Orton, Up Against It has always been interesting to me. Brian Epstein rejected it, of course he did; Orton’s outlaw sexuality was a total wrong fit for the Beatle-buying public circa 1967—but the mixing of two such strong, really important flavors from Swinging […]

Yeah, no surprise that the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s has everybody out there opining. But I find Amanda Marcotte’s take in Salon worth calling out, if only to say that as someone who considers herself a feminist I’m thoroughly tired of this kind of facile, oversimplified finger-pointing. Her claim that Sgt. Pepper‘s “was the point when rock stopped being the music of girls and started […]

The Washington Post has published this intriguing piece about how a 22-year-old critic came to write a negative review of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for the New York Times when the album was originally released. Richard Goldstein, the critic in question, has the complete review on his website: you can read it here. Although he […]

This morning, as I was shaving — a marvelously quick operation now that I have a beard — “Breakfast With the Beatles” played a blast-from-the-past radio ad touting the then-new LPs Magical Mystery Tour and Wild Honey. (So we can date the spot to late December 1967/early 1968). I suddenly felt a very warm feeling, […]

Online reviewer George Starostin has just posted another review of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, this time as part of his working down the list of the RateYourMusic site’s “Top Albums of All Time” list. (Pepper is currently at #18). I love the whole review, but here are a couple of my favorite song-by-song […]

Anybody know where and when this was taken? Bangor, 1967? Related posts: Psychedelia in the UK: "A Technicolor Dream" McCartney’s mullet New York Beatlefans: Stop reading this and go to The Fest! Oh! Our mistake Best Beatles Magazine Covers Real or fake? New way to look at Beatles vs. Stones… Three Ways: Beatles write about […]

Linda S. got in touch with the ol’ Dullblog this morning with a thought too interesting not to share. “I was startled the first time I viewed the video piece for “Hello Goodbye,” Linda wrote. “John seemed strangely subdued. I wasn’t sure what I was sensing, only that it made me feel very uneasy. Still […]

NANCY CARR * With a Little Help from My Fwends, the Sgt. Pepper’s tribute album from the Flaming Lips and a bunch of their buddies, is a frequently painful listening experience that is also revelatory. It’s just that much of what it reveals leads to depressing conclusions about how the 21st century is shaping up. […]

Taking a moment on this lazy Sunday to pass along a mildly interesting recording I found last night: the infamous 1967 Brian Epstein interview with WOR-FM’s Murray Kaufman (“Murray the K”) from March 1967. Brian was in the US announcing the addition of Robert Stigwood (and Stigwood’s acts The Cream and The Who) to his […]

DEVIN McKINNEY • Hey! Let’s all wish Ringo the best on his 74th birthday. He’s still on tour, still looking great, still showing those peace fingers and giving a plug for love wherever he goes. I wrote a little birthday tribute to Ringo over at HiLobrow, a pop-culture site where I often contribute (edited by the […]